Mark C. McGlothlen grew up in St. Joseph County and lived in Constantine for 22 years. He currently lives in the Kalamazoo area and for the past several years has been covering the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL for the Journal.

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By Mark McGlothlen

Jan. 9, 2013
1:22 p.m.

The Kalamazoo Wings, proud member of the ECHL, three-time defending North Division Champions and National Hockey League affiliate to the Vancouver Canucks, and American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves announce the team has signed forwards Brian Bicek (BI-sek) and Jeff Pierce; per club policy, terms of the contracts will be undisclosed.

Bicek comes to Kalamazoo after starting the season in the Central Hockey League with the Missouri Mavericks. A fifth-year pro, Bicek has netted 234 points (104 goals, 130 assists) spending time in the ECHL, IHL and CHL. Bicek began his pro career during the 2007-08 season in the ECHL with the Elmira Jackals, where he was a teammate of current K-Wings goaltender Joel Martin.

The native of Downers Grove, Illinois is also familiar with Pierce, who he was a college teammate with for four years at Western Michigan University (2004-08).

Similar to Bicek, Pierce is a fifth-year pro that joins the team after starting the season in the CHL with the Mavericks. Pierce has posted 254 points (113 goals, 141 assists) in his career, primarily in the CHL.

By coming to the K-Wings, the native of Troy, Michigan will be reunited with Kory Karlander, Martin and Bicek. The native of Troy, Michigan and Karlander were teammates for two seasons back in 2008-10 in the CHL with the Odessa Jackalopes while he was a teammate of Martin’s in Odessa during the 2009-10 campaign. Besides being teammates in college, Pierce and Bicek were also together this season in Missouri.

Both Bicek and Pierce are expected to make their K-Wings debuts tonight, as Kalamazoo returns to Wings Stadium for a 7 p.m. face-off versus the Reading Royals.